• Amtrak train pulled into New York as my iPod coughed up “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.” “My own seeds shall be sown in new York city.” Cool.
• At the Met, had a conversation with the portrait of the woman looking out at us with a sad, lovely expression, pens in hand; over her shoulder a distant couple is visible through a broken window pane. I told her, Cheer up. You’re going to be fine, and anyway you’re an artist. (The painting is Marie-Denise Villers’ Young Woman Drawing.)
• at Thursday nite reading, a stranger came up to me with tears in her eyes. We shook hands.
• Thursday afternoon, lunch with Newsweek executive editor Ted Moncreiff. Talked about writing and magazines and FALCON QUINN. Afterward, walked past the STONEWALL inn. And whispered, Thanks.
• on the way to Penn station to catch the train home to Maine, the subway stationmaster looked at me and said, “Were you on that Oprah show?” I said, “Yeah, but that was a long time ago.” Said she: “You look the same!” I smiled and said, “So do you!” And headed down the stairs, toward home.
2 Comments
I had a Boylan/Oprah moment the other day. I was at the bank changing my name on my various accounts. At first the banker was all business…I said I was doing a name change…she asked me for my marriage license…I said, no, not that kind… and she said, “Oh, divorce decree…”holding out her hand. I said, “No, legal name change” and handed her the document. (I’m just insecure enough to eat this stuff up!)
As she got wind of what was going on she really warmed up. Upon reviewing all of my accounts, she noticed that both of my children’s accounts were linked to mine. That’s when she said, “Oh, you are like that family I saw on Oprah the other day”.
I said, “You mean the family with the blond woman that Skyped in?”. ”
“Yes, they seemed nice.” she replied.
Needless to say, the rest of the transaction went wonderfully, and in the whole process the banker went from being rather gruff and all-business to a warm and caring person. In no small part, her preconceptions had been set by the positive appearance of the whole family on Oprah.
Thank You, Boylans, one and all for hanging it out there! It made my day that much nicer. That banker is one more soul in the support column.
CiCi
I saw Elton John sing “Mona Lisa…etc” with the Indigo Girls once.It was great.>G<